Public Breeding Produces New Maize Varieties for Kenyan Farmers

Scientists working within the Maize Breeders Network (MBNET) and based at Kenya Agricultural Research Institute have been undertaking plant breeding with the goal of improving farmers’ livelihoods through development and deployment of improved maize varieties.  Every year public and private breeders in Kenya evaluate new crop varieties in National Performance trials conducted in diverse maize growing ecologies of Kenya for adaptation.  During a recently convened National Performance Trial Committee meeting in Nairobi, Kenya (November, 2006), ten (10) improved maize varieties bred by Kenya Agricultural Research Institute were recommended for pre-release or full release. This paves way for the process of commercialization and delivery of new technology (new varieties) to farmers by the development organizations and the private sector.  The varieties produce higher yields than those currently grown by farmers, are also tolerant to drought and resistant to maize streak virus disease, stem borer damage, and turcicum leaf blight and gray leaf spot.   The varieties are available for commercialization in dryland, mid-altitude and highland ecologies of Kenya.  Read the full story at http://www.africancrops.net/news/dec06/ininda.htm. The complete description of the Maize Breeders Network (MBNET) is available at http://www.africancrops.net/maizenetwork/index.htm. Comments about this news article can be posted and shared through the Maize Forum of the African Crops Message and Discussion Board or by email to: jininda@mx.todaysonline.com.

Commercial Release of Striga Resistant Maize in Kenya

The Partnership to Control Striga in Kenya www.africancrops.net/striga) has organized an event in Kisumu City, Kenya to facilitate the commercial release of Striga -resistant maize, locally known as Ua Kayongo. The commercial release is led by Western Seed Company and follows extensive tests, farm trials and awareness activities conducted in the last two years involving Ua Kayongo maize and other Striga eradication options for over 10,000 small scale farmers in western Kenya. These activities were aimed at controlling and reducing Striga infestation, in order to improve maize yields, food security and wellbeing of the rural poor. The Partnership is led by Agricultural Technology Foundation, BASF, CIMMYT and FORMAT in collaboration with a network of NGOs, seed companies, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and farmer associations in Kenya. Striga hermonthica has infested approximately 200,000 ha in Nyanza and Western Provinces of Kenya and resulted in crop losses estimated at $80 million per year.  The new herbicide-resistant maize hybrid and seed coated herbicide technology is based upon inherited resistance of maize to a systemic herbicide (imazapyr), a mechanism widely recognized as imazapyr-resistance (I-R).  When I-R maize seed is coated with the herbicide, Striga attempting to parasitize the resulting plant are destroyed.  Imazapyr is marketed to Kenyan seed companies producing I-R Ua Kayongo maize (mixed vernacular for Striga killer) under the trade name Strigaway_®. More information about the event and Striga control in Kenya is available at www.africancrops.net/striga. Inquiries can be directed to Canon Savala (FORMAT), email: format@wananchi.com), Nancy Muchiri (AATF), email: n.muchiri@aatf-africa.org) and Fred Kanampiu (CIMMYT), email: f.kanampiu@cgiar.org. Comments about this news article can be posted and shared through the Maize Forum of the African Crops Message and Discussion Board or by email to: africancrops@wananchi.com.  

Online Discussion on Pests and Diseases

The African Crops Message and Discussion Board (www.africancrops.ipbhost.com) will be holding an online discussion on the control of pests and diseases afflicting African crops. The discussions will be hosted by the Pests and Diseases Forum and you are invited to participate. The discussion will run for 6 weeks during which participants will give their views and cite useful references on the topics under discussion. A summary of this discussion with full acknowledgement of contributors will be prepared and disseminated through this Forum, the Africancrops.net website, the African Crops News Service and possibly as a poster at the 3^rd Meeting on Biotechnology, Breeding and Seed Systems to be held in Maputo during 26-29 March, 2007. Topics selected for the discussion include integrated pest management, crop husbandry and indigenous knowledge, post-harvest crop losses, managing resistance and its development among transgenic crops, technology transfer, biopesticides and effects of intercropping in the spread of pests and diseases. The complete list of topics and their brief descriptions is available at  http://www.africancrops.net/news/dec06/discussion_topics.htm. The Forum discussions are moderated by Dr Josephine Songa, a senior IPM scientist with Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). Participation is open but interested contributors must register with the Message Board using their email addresses.  A confirmation of the registration will be sent to your inbox immediately upon registration. Further guidelines on using the board are available within the Board under the Technical Updates Forum, the HELP button at top of each page or the African Crops Brochure at http://www.africancrops.net/news/dec06/brochure.pdf.  For more information about the discussion, browse to Pests and Diseases forum of the Board, www.africancrops.ipbhost.com, contact the Moderator by email: jmsonga@africaonline.co.ke or the Board Administrator, africancrops@wananchi.com.

CIMMYT Wins the King Baudouin Award of the CGIAR

One of agricultural science’s most prestigious prizes, the King Baudouin Award of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), was presented to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) for an innovative, ongoing series of maize-breeding projects in southern and eastern Africa that have produced more than 50 new varieties planted on at least 1 million hectares. CIMMYT’s projects have developed plant types tolerant to drought, low soil fertility, parasitic weeds, and other common plant stresses, and also revolutionized the way in which new varieties are developed and selected. Read full release at http://www.africancrops.net/news/dec06/cimmyt-award.pdf. For more information contact Daisy Ouya of CIMMYT, email: d.ouya@cgiar.org

WARDA Wins Award

The Africa Rice Center (WARDA) has been selected to receive the 2006 United Nations Award for South-South Triangular Partnership in recognition of its New Rice for Africa (NERICA) initiative.  The announcement was made by His Excellency Eladio Loizaga, Permanent Representative of Paraguay to the United Nations in his capacity as President, High-level Committee of South-South Cooperation of the United Nations General Assembly. Full story, http://www.warda.org/warda/newsrel-UNAward-dec06.asp

A Brochure on AFRICANCROPS.NET

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A brochure on AFRICANCROPS.NET website and its complementary services, African Crops News Service (ACNS) and the online Message and Discussion Board is now available for readers. The brochure describes the operations of these internet services that are offered as a suite for scientists and development specialists with interest in improving African crops. AFRICANCROPS.NET, the News Service and Message Board disseminate research outputs, new agricultural technologies and crop varieties, and scientific and extension information on improvement of African crops and seed systems. The ACNS Newsletter is a monthly publication by the AFRICANCROPS.NET Team. The African Crops Message and Discussion Board is an internet platform that allows scientists and other users to quickly and directly exchange news and information on research methods, findings and other recent advances in the improvement of African crops and seed systems. The brochure is available online at http://www.africancrops.net/news/dec06/brochure.pdf. For inquiries and printed copies contact the Manager, AFRICANCROPS.NET by email: africancrops@wananchi.com.

New Publications

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African Agricultural Technology Foundation. 2006. Empowering Farmers to Eradicate Striga from Maize Croplands. African Agricultural Technology Foundation. Nairobi, Kenya. 17 pp.

This booklet calls for a comprehensive campaign to eradicate Striga from Africa’s maize croplands. Striga is a parasitic weed preying upon cereal crops that has infested 2.5 million hectares of maize and is a leading cause of food insecurity and rural stagnation. Read summary of the publication at http://www.africancrops.net/news/dec06/striga_eradication.htm

Mbogori, M.N, Kimani, M., Kuria, A., Lagat, M., Danson, J.W. 2006. Optimization of FTA technology for large scale plant DNA isolation for use in marker assisted selection. African Journal of Biotechnology 5(9): 693-696.  [Abstract] [Full Text as PDF]

Danson, J.W., Kimani, M., and Mbogori, M.N. 2006. Detection of Bacillus thuringiensis genes in transgenic maize by the PCR method and FTA paper technology. African Journal of Biotechnology 5 (22), pp.  [Abstract] [Full Text: PDF]

Danson, J.W., Lagat, M., Ininda, J. and Kimani, M. 2006. Application of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers to study the resistance of locally adapted maize hybrids to damaging maize streak virus disease. African Journal of Biotechnology 5 (16), pp. 1430-1434. [Abstract] [Full Text as PDF]

Comments about these papers can be posted and shared through the African Crops Message and Discussion Board. Other correspondences should be directed to Jedidah W. Danson, email: J.DANSON@CGIAR.ORG. Those with limited access to the internet can request for these articles by contacting: africancrops@wananchi.com or j.danson@cgiar.org.

Upcoming Conferences

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Call for Papers: The African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE) will be holding its second international conference during 20-22 August 2007 in Accra, Ghana. Online registration is now open and abstracts should be submitted by 20 January 2007. More information about the conference is available at the Association website www.aaae-africa.org

22 May 59th International Symposium On Crop Protection, Ghent, BELGIUM.  Contact: P. Spanoghe, Secretary ISCP, Fac. of Agric. & Appld. Biol. Sci., Ghent Univ., Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, BELGIUM. Email: iscp@ugent.be.  Fax: 32-9-264-6249. Phone: 32-9-264-6009.  Web: http://www.iscp.ugent.be.

9th World Congress On Parasitic Plants, 03-07 June 2007; Charlottesville, VA, USA.  Contact: J. Westwood, Plant Path., 401 Latham Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0331,  USA. Email: Westwood@vt.edu.  Fax: 1-540-231-7477. Phone: 1-540-231-7519.  Web: http://www.cpe.vt.edu/wcopp/.

International Parasitic Plant Congress, June 03-07, 2007; Charlotsville, Virginia, USA. http://www.ppws.vt.edu/ipps.

XVI International Plant Protection Congress, October 15 - 18, 2007. In association with the BCPC International Congress - Crop Science & Technology 2007.  SECC, Glasgow, UK. Email: md@bcpc.org.  Web site:    http://www.plantprotection.org/

8th African Crop Science Society Conference. 27-31 October 2007, El-Minia, Egypt. Abstracts should be submitted by 28 February 2007. Upload abstracts, register, view program and more information at conference website http://www.acss2007.org

Resistance 2007.  April 16 - 18, 2007; Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK. The conference will review the latest research on the origins, nature, development and prevention of resistance to pesticides.  Full details, http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/Research/Resistance2007.html

The 2nd International Conference on Plant Molecular Breeding. Sanya, Hainan, China, 23-27, March 2007. The event will focus on Applied plant genomics and molecular plant breeding. Full paper and extended abstract submission by 31 December  2006. http://www.icpmb.org/142.html

Third General Meeting on Biotechnology, Breeding & Seed Systems for African Crops (ICV3), 26-29 March,  2007, Maputo, Mozambique. The conference is organized by The Rockefeller Foundation and the Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM). Registration and submission of abstracts is now closed. Visit the conference internet page: http://www.africancrops.net/rockefeller/icv3.

Fellowships

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University of Nottingham. Scholarships are available to international students for degree programs at the University of Nottingham starting in September 2007. Visit http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/international/scholarships_and_finance/scholarships

Acumen Fund Fellows Program. The Program is now accepting applications for the 2008 fellows program. The application deadline is January 31, 2007 and the program begins in September 2007. The fellows will be located in New York, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, India and Pakistan. http://www.acumenfund.org/About/opportunity.asp

Employment Opportunities

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Programme Manager. The Kilimo Trust is recruiting a Programme Manager for its technical operations that include managing existing grants and supporting the development of new ones. http://www.kilimotrust.org/news/programme_manager.htm.

Regional Agribusiness Coordinator. Market Matters Inc. is recruiting a Regional Agribusiness Coordinator for East and Southern Africa. The candidate will coordinate activities of Marama II Project, Making Markets Matter workshop series and the Seeds of Development Program. http://www.africancrops.net/news/general/regional-agriobusiness-coordinator.pdf.

Molecular Plant Breeder. African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI) is recruiting a Molecular Breeder, funded by the Generation Challenge Program. http://www.africancrops.net/general/recruiting.htm. Send CVs to Mrs J. Poulter, email: poulterj@ukzn.ac.za

New Educational Magazine

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The Higher Education Bulletin (HEB)

This is a monthly magazine published in Nairobi, Kenya by Education Media Ltd. The magazine covers information on colleges and universities in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.  The bulletin is available in supermarkets, bookshops and convenient stores in major towns in East Africa. It publishes information on learning opportunities in higher education, research and training funding; politics and policy issues on higher education at regional and national level in East Africa; career opportunities and issues and other relevant educational topics. The October-November 2006 issue is currently available in major retail stores.  Full description of the magazine http://www.africancrops.net/news/dec06/hebulletin.htm. To subscribe, contribute articles or make inquiries, contact the Editor by email: hebulletin@gmail.com.

 

Research Funding Opportunities

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Call for Concept Notes: FARM Africa Kenya is calling for concept notes for Maendeleo Technology Transfer Fund (MATF) Round V projects. Visit the website for more details, http://www.maendeleo-atf.org/Grant-Seekers/call-concepts.html. Applications MUST be submitted by email to info@maendeleo-atf.org.  

Call for Proposals: The Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa (CEEPA) based at the University of Pretoria, announces research grants for scientists studying environmental economics issues in Africa. Proposals should be submitted before 1 February 2007 to: duplessisd@postino.up.ac.za. Visit CEEPA website at www.ceepa.co.za and the CFP site http://www.ceepa.co.za/docs/cfpgfnw.pdf.

New Website, www.kilimotrust.org

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Kilimo Trust Website. The Trust recently published its website www.kilimotrust.org over the internet.  The website collects and disseminates information on agricultural research and development projects funded by the Trust and those affiliated to it. It also publicizes information about the strategies and operations of the Trust, provides funding guidelines, and, in the near future, will initiate online discussion forums, e-newsletter and e-library on agricultural development in eastern Africa. Kilimo Trust was established in July 2005 through funding from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. It provides grants to improve incomes and well-being of smallholder farming households by supporting innovations in knowledge generation, policy and institutions within the agricultural sector in East Africa. Comments and inquiries on the website can be directed to: kilimoweb@yahoo.com. Visit  www.kilimotrust.org

Online Resources

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Insect Control Guide. A revised, 2006 version of CONTROL OF INSECT PESTS OF FIELD CROPS contains information for managing insect pests on alfalfa (lucerne), maize, small grains, and soybean. Ohio State Univ. entomologists B. Eisley and R. Hammond have categorized the data in tabular form by pest, product name, product amount recommended, application method, and suggested optimum time for application. The 34-page bulletin includes a "Handling of Pesticides" section that discusses toxicity, presents safety tips, and explains the importance of triple rinsing and safe disposal of containers. The document is Bulletin #545 freely accessible at: http://ohioline.osu.edu/b545/pdf/b545.pdf.  

15th Australian Weeds Conference Proceedings: MANAGING WEEDS IN A CHANGING CLIMATE, edited by C. Preston, _et al_. The September 2006 event covered a wide range of topics including animal dispersal of weeds, social and policy change, new developments in crop weed management, and many others, all under the theme of climate change implications for the management of weeds. The 904-page, softbound work was published by the Weed Management Society of South Australia and the Council of Australasian Weed Societies.  Contact: RobFiona@pipeline.com.au.  Web: http://www.weedinfo.com.au/bk_15awc.html. 

Statistical Analyses Tool. A new Excel ® VBA Macro is available for performing statistical analyses on pesticide dose-response data.  The macro can be freely downloaded from  http://www.unipg.it/~onofri/Bioassay97/Bioassay97.htm. The author is: Andrea Onofri, Department of Agro-environmental Sciences - University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 74 - 06121 Perugia - ITALY

Atlas of Sorghum Production. The atlas on Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench)  has information on sorghum production in five countries of eastern Africa covering 30 production areas and on over 80 variables. The Atlas presents information in maps and tables for 30 sorghum production areas in five countries addressing production constraints, cropping systems, management, uses, preferences, gender roles, and marketing. http://intsormil.org/sorghumatlas.htm   

News. International news on crop protection, http://www.crop-protection-monthly.co.uk/latest.htm

Organizational Profile

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The Institute for Genomic Diversity (IGD) conducts research and training in genetic diversity, plant genomics, biodiversity conservation, and solving problems affecting global food security. The website http://www.igd.cornell.edu/ provides links to the IGD projects, research and training tools. For more information contact Theresa M. Fulton, Director of Outreach & Training, IGD, email: tf12@cornell.edu.

Training Programme

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International Agricultural Training Programmes, Galillee College, Israel, April 19 - May 07, 2007. The Program comprises study tours and lectures on Water Management and Crop Production, and Agribusiness and Export Marketing Management. Information about registration procedure and programme content is available at www.galilcol.ac.il or through the programmes administrator email: nnevo@galilcol.ac.il

Call for Articles, January 2007 Issue

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We invite articles, announcements and other information for the next issue of AFRICAN CROPS NEWS SERVICE that comes out in the third week of January 2007. To see previous newsletters, go to: http://www.africancrops.net/news. 

About The African Crops News Service!

The African Crops News Service covers current research and developments in improvement of African crops and seed systems. The service compliments the africancrops.net website to enhance further the sharing of news and information from projects supported by The Rockefeller Foundation and those by other organizations. The service team welcomes short articles and information on your project and organization, research networks and country for inclusion in the upcoming issues of the newsletter. Read more on the African Crops News Service at http://africancrops.net/news/.

Contact Information for Inquiries and Suggestions

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The Manager, Africancrops.net

C/o FORMAT, P.O. Box 79 Village Market 00621

Nairobi, Kenya

Email: africancrops@wananchi.com

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